Eleven years ago, in 2013, Holder said that Mohammed and his associates would have been “on death row as we speak” had the case gone to federal court as he proposed.
But he blamed Congress for blocking a federal trial that would have resulted in swifter justice.
They were dealt a bad hand by the political hacks and those who lost faith in our justice system,” Holder said in a statement to NBC News on Thursday.
“If my decision to try KSM and his confederates in the tested and effective federal court system had been followed they would be nothing more than a memory today,” Holder said.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said he’s “long advocated that our federal court system is perfectly capable of conducting this kind of trial” and was well-suited to handling serious crimes.
Persons:
Eric Holder, ”, Holder, ” Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘ Attash, Mustafa Ahmed Adam al, General Holder, Mohammed, ” Holder, KSM, “, ” Eric Holder, Chip Somodevilla, Rudy Giuliani —, Donald Trump’s, —, Giuliani, Tsarnaev, William Barr, Trump, George H.W, George H.W . Bush, hadn’t, ” Barr, he’d, he’s, Barr, Alexanda Amon Kotey, Joe Biden’s, Mitch McConnell, McConnell, Sen, Chris Coons, doesn’t, ” Coons, Richard Blumenthal, Conn, “ I’ve, ” Sen, Chris Van Hollen, Biden, Thom Tillis, I’m, ” Tillis, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton
Organizations:
WASHINGTON, Guantanamo, Pentagon, CIA, NBC, New York City, Prisons, Boston Marathon, Rockies, Republican, Trump, Justice Department, Islamic State, White, NBC News, House
Locations:
United States, Guantanamo, Manhattan, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, America, Pakistan, Caribbean, ADMAX Florence, Colorado, ”, George H.W ., ADMAX, Florence, Ky